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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2180 Posts |
Quote:
I'm always curious to know (in terms of Sovereigns & halfs) how many have gone to melt...that would be interesting. I'm a little curious about this myself. It seems that a lot of highmintage but rare sovereigns are explained with "most were probably melted", but I read yesterday in the April 1992 Australian Coin Review about the price achieved for a 1920S sovereign, and the article said it was a highly speculative purchase because there was still the chance that there were a lot of 1920S sovereigns were stashed in a country's gold reserves. I don't know if a country's gold reserves are commonly stored as coins rather than bars though but I thought it was an interesting take on it. |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
541 Posts |
Quote:
I'm a little curious about this myself. It seems that a lot of highmintage but rare sovereigns are explained with "most were probably melted", but I read yesterday in the April 1992 Australian Coin Review about the price achieved for a 1920S sovereign, and the article said it was a highly speculative purchase because there was still the chance that there were a lot of 1920S sovereigns were stashed in a country's gold reserves.
I don't know if a country's gold reserves are commonly stored as coins rather than bars though but I thought it was an interesting take on it. The Bank of Albania, Central Bank of India and the Reserve Bank of Australia had large holdings gold sovereigns and half sovereigns in addition to numerous private banks throughout Europe. The European private banks' holdings have been searched through for decades, the Bank of Albania holdings were sold in 1991 and the Reserve Bank holdings were sold in 2005. The Sydney mint melted down large quantities of sovereigns upon their closure in 1926, it is very likely that most of the 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923 sovereigns were among these. |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
877 Posts |
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Moderator
 Australia
16859 Posts |
I have a few sovereigns and halves; they're part of the Australian type set, but my main goal is a one-from-every-mint-in-the-Empire collection. Ironically, the only one I'm missing right now is Melbourne.
I have a couple of the modern gold coins, too, again just as examples of the type. I bought a gold koala back in the late-1990s when gold was cheap and the dealers were pleased to get rid of them for any amount above face value.
I've also bought a couple of gold coins in more recent times, with higher prices. I buy for the collection, not for speculation/investment. For me, the most important word in the phrase "gold coin" is "coin", not "gold".
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
674 Posts |
Suddenly I decided to contact lost relatives who work for the Bank of Albania. (until I read they sold up in 1991). I have one gold sovereign and two halves but often wonder if I should trade for a couple of my missing pre decimals or even unc. pre decimal notes as Goatieman suggests.!! Decisions Decisions.!  |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
908 Posts |
I have 6 sovereigns and was thinking of offloading them to reinvest in something that might actually continue to appreciate in value in it's own rite rather than be tied to the gold value but I'm not sure what gold is doing.It would be nice if I could continue my run of buying Australian Pre decimal silver from overseas at really low prices.Or maybe I'll wait until gold goes over $2000 per oz before selling the sovereigns WHAT TO DO  Edited by stevo1962
11/20/2012 10:37 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 Australia
869 Posts |
I figure if you ever need spare cash, you can sell a Sovereign or Half Sovereign at the drop of a hat, for spot price (& generally +10%) because everyone knows the gold price which can sometimes be a secure option.
On the other end of the scale, with a pre-decimal coin, generally it'll take a while longer to get a good price, unless if it's a nice coin & there's always the sharks are out to get a bargain.
In my case I want a nice COIN collection (which is still taking time), but also part of it to be an easy exit strategy if ever need cash in the future.
Also, hey Enworb (I'll be heading your way at Christmas for four or five days).
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
4411 Posts |
Might be good to catch up again
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
 with Sap's approach, when it comes to gold coins. I have around 30 in my collection, and perhaps 5 or 6 of those are over 1,000 years old. As a result of the high price of bullion gold over the last few years, I have failed to buy a single gold coin in those last few years. |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
762 Posts |
I've got some gold coins. A few sovereigns and half a dozen of the $200 coins. I got them mostly to "diversify" my collection but I do like them numismaticly as well. My Sydney Mint sovereign is a favorite. I also like the $200 coins as they are part of our history now (and 30 years old) but they will never be worth anything but bullion with the huge mintages (over 250,000 for the 1980 coin). As for the price of gold...who knows?  I have been reliably informed for the past 18 months that the price was going to sky rocket because of the problems in Europe and the US but it never has. Just like how the price of silver was going to be above $50 by the end of 2011......but at the end of 2012 it is still stalled in the low $30. All that I know is that Gold and Silver brokers will always tell you that the price is about to skyrocket.  |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
869 Posts |
Hmm...gold, gold, gold. What are you going to do?  April '05 to Oct '06 - A lull, stayed at about the same price. Not too volatile. Then rose... Feb '07 to July '08 - Same stagnant price through period. Became a little more volatile. Huge rise when the market went crazy... Sept '11 till current - Same sort of price, but extremely volatile, going up & down like a yoyo. Does this mean another potential rise? We'll wait & see, but silver is doing similar things at around about the same times, but with extreme volatility as we can see below:  |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
1041 Posts |
Yeah,who knows but Gold always(well nearly always) drags the Silver price up long term so I don't see why Silver in the next couple(or 3) years won't break through the $40 again but stay there this time.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
852 Posts |
A complicating factor is that gold and silver are traded internationally and most quote in USD. Withe the AUD currently slightly above parity the Australian buyer needs to consider what would happen to the AUD if the world economy goes down the gurgler. Remember that in '08 the AUD was approaching parity but the crisis knocked 25% off the AUD to USD exchange.
I purchased gold sovereigns about a decade ago so in USD they have tripled in value (from 150 USD) but in AUD they have gone from 280 AUD to about 430.
If the AUD goes back to what it was in the 1990s (think of pre China and pre minerals boom) then it could get back to .39 USD per 1 AUD so at 1700 USD my gold (and yours) would be over 4000 AUD (over a grand per sov).
Silver has more upside (and more volatility) so I stack that in preference to gold.
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
762 Posts |
Quote:
A complicating factor is that gold and silver are traded internationally and most quote in USD. and just to complicate things further is inflation  So to make money investing in gold you have to keep track of the gold price, the exchange rate and the inflation rate.  My advice would be to just buy gold coins that you like.....and if they happen to appreciate in value well that is a bonus. |
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New Member
Australia
13 Posts |
every one keeps telling me gold is going up and up,
my good friend loves his gold and cant get enough....but I love me notes
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Replies: 21 / Views: 4,331 |
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First Page
Posted 11/20/2012 6:31 pm
